Posts by Mary:

For those who know I grew up in Saudi Arabia, it may come as a surprise that I only started learning Arabic when I lived in Morocco in 2009-2010. After that huge wasted opportunity (liasaf jadid!) in Saudi Arabia, I was very eager to learn the language spoken across so much of the Mid

Something new and uniquely beneficial With 25,000 Syrian refugees meant to arrive in Canada in the next months, there has been a surge of interest in supporting newcomers. In terms of language support, I believe we can develop something new and uniquely beneficial, for both newcomers

The 2015 Vancouver Turkish Film Festival The Vancouver Turkish Film Festival is now 5 years old, and has grown from its modest start in the classrooms of Langara College to its new venue of Vancity Theatre. I remember the inaugural year in 2011, when I caught the great doc, On the Way

A basic linguistic guide across the “stans” History has marched and galloped back and forth across Central Asia – which guide books tend to describe as Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikisitan, and Afghanistan – and to which I’ll add Pakistan bec

There is a myth out there that adults make language errors forever, while kids just effortlessly absorb whatever they hear. Now, I’m no specialist in childhood learning, but I am here, backed up with recently acquired anecdotal evidence, to tell you that kids do not just pick up

Ibrahim is Abarham, but is Serra Sarah? Is Homer Ömer? I was hanging out with a Turkish friend last week and we started talking about names that appear in Christian and Muslim communities. Some are obviously from the same root: Abraham / Ibrahim Joseph / Yusuf Mary / Maryam or Meryem

A famous folk singer in Turkey If you travel for long in Turkey as a Canadian you will inevitably be asked, “Do you know Brenna MacCrimmon?” or “Do you like Brenna MacCrimmon?” I once blogged about the most famous Canadian in China – Dashan – who achieved fame not for his

It has been a while since I profiled a multilingual person. You might remember Maria “going home” to English instead of Spanish, Jeremy describing the challenges of learning Kyrgyz, and Jordi reflecting on “foreignerisms” arising among non-native speakers. Here

5 Reasons Teachers Make the Best Employees, and 2 Reasons We Might Not 1. We show up on time. Whether we are teaching a class of 20 or a tutoring a person one-on-one, the show doesn’t start without us. We have to show up. On time. Being late or canceling last minute simply doesn’t fl

Agricultural metaphors in English Planting season has me thinking Spring has arrived in the Pacific Northwest. I recently expanded our garden to have room for the plants I want to grow. Marigolds, arugula, spinach, mustard greens, sweet peas, and peas are already in the ground. Indoor